The fifth caste
The castes that clear carcasses don’t include in these 4 primary castes. The cleaners of carcasses have always been treated as ‘impure’ and ‘untouchable’ by the four castes, and these ‘untouchables’ have not really been a part of the Hindu-Brahmini Dharma or their caste system, even though the proponents of the system have called them ‘Atishudra’ (inferior than even the Shudras) and the pancham varna or the fifth caste– the rank 5th representing that the caste system puts the untouchables in a far even worse position than the Shudras. Since the name sounds too a sign of the caste and our society practises caste discrimination but does not like to talk about caste, many people– consisting of some Doms too– choose to call the